In what ways does Bohannan’s attempt to tell the story of Hamlet to the Tiv illustrate the concept of naïve realism? The story of Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s greatest and when Mrs. Bohannan attempts telling the story to the Tiv, she alters the story so that it doesn’t overly alter the language barrier between them. She attempts to make the story of Hamlet understandable to the Tiv, by doing this the Tiv give her another understanding of Hamlet that she hadn’t previously thought about. During her telling of Hamlet, the Tiv can apply the story to their ways of life. The Tiv do not believe in omens, because omen’ are witchcraft and witches can send false omens to people. The felt that Hamlet was a youngster and he should not be involved
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I think the most obvious is the language barrier, she is unable to produce words that are needed to tell the exact story in its context, so she breaks it up and attempts to tell it so its more understandable to the Tiv elders. That leaves the story completely open to interpretation, based of what the Tiv sees a cultural “norm” in their society. Another example that stands out to me is when Bohannan speaks of Hamlet seeing his fathers ghost. This cause a conflict with the Tiv who do not know what a ghost is. Once it is explained to them, it causes more conflict. When a person dies they are just dead and they can not come back to talk to someone or walk among the living or cast a shadow. Trying to bridge the language barrier she fumbled constantly to find words that the elders would understand. While Bohannan was attempting to tell the story of Hamlet she began to get so frustrated, by the interpretations of Hamlet and because it was a struggle to decide what parts of the story should be told to capture the meaning. At one point she wanted to stop telling the story all …show more content…
One elder stated “Impossible, Of course it wasn’t the dead chief. It was an omen sent by a witch. Go on.” (43)They didn’t believe in any form of life after death unless it was at the hands of a witch, seeking to cause trouble. Collectively the elders agreed that Hamlet was to young to have been the chief. Because of his immature age, the omen of his dead father was only meant for a chief of elders to understand. An elder thought that Horatio marring his dead brothers widow was a step up. Tiv elders also argued that a chief should have many wives, to benefit them and their village. The Tiv believed that taxes were a terrible thing. There was a lengthy argument about omen’s and what they can and can’t do, and why someone would send an omen to another. The Tiv believed that only witchcraft can make a person go mad, and someone bewitching a person causing them to go mad can only lead that person to make bad decisions. When Bohannan explained to them about the omen of his father speaking to him about his death, the elders were all in agreement that the omen could have been sent to Hamlet to falsely accuse his fathers brother of murder. One elder stated that “Because his father’s brother was a great chief, one-who-sees-the-truth might therefore have been afraid to tell it. Sent an omen so his friends son would know. Was the omen true?” The elders were disgusted to hear that Hamlet killed Polonius,
I think the most obvious is the language barrier, she is unable to produce words that are needed to tell the exact story in its context, so she breaks it up and attempts to tell it so its more understandable to the Tiv elders. That leaves the story completely open to interpretation, based of what the Tiv sees a cultural “norm” in their society. Another example that stands out to me is when Bohannan speaks of Hamlet seeing his fathers ghost. This cause a conflict with the Tiv who do not know what a ghost is. Once it is explained to them, it causes more conflict. When a person dies they are just dead and they can not come back to talk to someone or walk among the living or cast a shadow. Trying to bridge the language barrier she fumbled constantly to find words that the elders would understand. While Bohannan was attempting to tell the story of Hamlet she began to get so frustrated, by the interpretations of Hamlet and because it was a struggle to decide what parts of the story should be told to capture the meaning. At one point she wanted to stop telling the story all …show more content…
One elder stated “Impossible, Of course it wasn’t the dead chief. It was an omen sent by a witch. Go on.” (43)They didn’t believe in any form of life after death unless it was at the hands of a witch, seeking to cause trouble. Collectively the elders agreed that Hamlet was to young to have been the chief. Because of his immature age, the omen of his dead father was only meant for a chief of elders to understand. An elder thought that Horatio marring his dead brothers widow was a step up. Tiv elders also argued that a chief should have many wives, to benefit them and their village. The Tiv believed that taxes were a terrible thing. There was a lengthy argument about omen’s and what they can and can’t do, and why someone would send an omen to another. The Tiv believed that only witchcraft can make a person go mad, and someone bewitching a person causing them to go mad can only lead that person to make bad decisions. When Bohannan explained to them about the omen of his father speaking to him about his death, the elders were all in agreement that the omen could have been sent to Hamlet to falsely accuse his fathers brother of murder. One elder stated that “Because his father’s brother was a great chief, one-who-sees-the-truth might therefore have been afraid to tell it. Sent an omen so his friends son would know. Was the omen true?” The elders were disgusted to hear that Hamlet killed Polonius,